Dai-Gohonzon

The Justice Chronicle, provided by Soka Gakkai International-USA, is a free monthly e-mail in support of the Soka Spirit movement. Soka Spirit is the SGI's educational effort to create value and deepen our understanding of Nichiren Buddhism through increased awareness of issues surrounding the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood and the spiritual foundation of the SGI movement.

1) JUSTICE CHRONICLE Q-AND-A

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THE DAI-GOHONZON: FOR ALL HUMANKIND

By Kryssi Staikidis,
New York City

QUESTION: Do we need to visit the Dai-Gohonzon to receive benefit?

ANSWER: At this time, making a pilgrimage to see the Dai-Gohonzon would actually have just the opposite effect on our lives. Recently, SGI President Ikeda referred to Nichiren Daishonin's teaching that wherever we dwell and practice the single vehicle (the Mystic Law), that place will be the Capital of Eternally Tranquil Light (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, p. 313). He elaborated: The Mystic Law is the open, eternal, universal Law of life that can be tapped by anyone, anytime, anywhere, equally and without discrimination. It is not something that the foolish priests of one close-minded mountain temple can monopolize (March 8 World Tribune, p. 6).

As we know, High Priest Nikken Abe and his colleagues plotted to destroy the Soka Gakkai, the organization that has been faithfully carrying out the true Buddha's will and intent, thus attempting to disrupt the progress of kosen-rufu. The head temple under the current high priest's control has now completely lost the spirit of the Daishonin and so has become a place of slander of the Law. And, since he is functioning as the third and most serious of the three powerful enemies of Buddhism, making a pilgrimage at this time would condone his slander.

The Daishonin established the Dai-Gohonzon for all humanity. It is the object of devotion dedicated to the happiness of all people, bestowed by the Daishonin on humankind as a whole. Because Nichiren Shoshu's current high priest has trampled on this far-reaching compassion of the Daishonin, allowing only those who unquestionably obey him access to the Dai-Gohonzon, he is arrogantly treating the Gohonzon as his personal possession. In Buddhism, lending support to slanderous priests or monks is called complicity in slander and results in sharing the same negative causes as such priests. Therefore, visiting the head temple under these conditions becomes a cause for unhappiness in our lives.

In addition Nichiren Shoshu says: There is absolutely no benefit in refusing to visit the Dai-Gohonzon...and worshipping just a household Gohonzon, which is a transcription of that Dai-Gohonzon (Refuting the Soka Gakkai's Counterfeit Object of Worship: 100 Questions and Answers, p. 9). This idea that one cannot attain Buddhahood unless one prays directly to the Dai-Gohonzon, as Nichiren Shoshu insists, is simply not to be found in any of the Daishonin's teachings and in fact runs counter to their spirit.

The Gohonzon we pray to each day in our homes or at our SGI community centers is endowed with exactly the same power of the Law inherent in the Dai-Gohonzon. Those who assert that one must visit a particular place to receive benefit are in effect turning on its head the very spirit of Nichiren Buddhism. The Daishonin's teachings exist to relieve the suffering of, and bring happiness to, all people throughout the world.

2) SGI PRESIDENT IKEDA'S GUIDANCE ON PILGRIMAGE

The Nichiren Shoshu priesthood claims that physically chanting before the Dai-Gohonzon is a fundamental practice of Nichiren Buddhism. This series contains guidance from SGI President Ikeda addressing these claims in light of Nichiren Daishonin's true teachings. This excerpt appeared in the March 8 World Tribune.

THE MYSTIC LAW CAN BE TAPPED ANYWHERE BY ANYONE

First Soka Gakkai president Tsunesaburo Makiguchi loved Mount Fuji's magnanimity. In the great work of his youth, The Geography of Human Life, he noted the power of the mountain to stir majestic feelings even in the hearts of people far away, as it displayed its spectacular beauty for all to see from every direction.

In the same work, President Makiguchi expressed doubts about religion that forces believers to make pilgrimages to specific sacred sites, because he strongly believed that people could fulfill their religious impulses through inner faith.

Nichiren Buddhism teaches, Wherever we dwell and practice the single vehicle [the Mystic Law], that place will be the Capital of Eternally Tranquil Light (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, p. 313). The Mystic Law is the open, eternal, universal Law of life that can be tapped by anyone, anytime, anywhere, equally and without discrimination. It is not something that the foolish priests of one close-minded mountain temple can monopolize.

Dr. Bryan Wilson, Oxford emeritus fellow and former president of the International Society for the Sociology of Religion, with whom I published the dialogue Human Values in a Changing World, said that a world religion must allow people of all nations to practice in the context of their daily lives.

The time has now come when Nichiren Daishonin has broadly opened the way to the widespread propagation of the Mystic Law throughout all Jambudvipa, the entire world. In the 10 years since the Soka Gakkai has freed itself from the restrictions of an anachronistic priesthood, we have achieved growth unprecedented in the history of Buddhism, spreading from 115 to 180 [now 182] nations and territories around the globe. (p. 6)

Four in a series.

SOKA SPIRIT IN THE PUBLICATIONS

This section highlights articles published in the World Tribune and Living Buddhism related to the Soka Spirit movement.

May 10 World Tribuneÿ page 10: SGI North American Bureau Director Norimasa Saito expresses the importance of the SGI-USA members' spirit to understand and point out the differences between Nichiren Shoshu and the SGI.

May 10 World Tribuneÿ page 11: SGI Vice Women¡s Leader Yumiko Hachiya discusses the meaning of devilish functions in Buddhism, and why Nichiren Shoshu succumbed to its influence.